One of our friends, Kitsie, spent a semester
in Venice, Italy during college.Three months
ago, she started talking about a trip back to Venice, with her travel buds, so that she
could show us some of the places that she enjoyed.Although
BJ and I have been to Venice twice, its such a neat place that its hard to go
there too often.With Venice in mind, we
selected a date, everybody requested time off, and we started planning.As is often the case, as we got closer to departure
date, we realized that we would not be able to get five folks to Venice in Business Class,
so we started looking at alternatives.Both
Ireland and England were considered, but by departure time, Zurich had become the obvious
choice.Thursday afternoon, with a 4:55pm
departure in mind, BJ and I hooked up with Karla and Sue, the other travelers on this
trip, at the bar nearest the gate our usual meeting place.Everybody was there everybody that is, except
Kitsie.At boarding time, the four of us
headed to the gate, accepted our boarding cards (Business Class, of course) and waited for
Kitsie.When the gate agent told us to board,
we told him we were waiting for a friend, but he insisted we get on Right Now!Settling in, with only about 5 minutes before
departure, we were delighted to see Kitsie walking down the aisle.She had made the mistake of stopping by the office
before coming to the airport Not a good
idea. Champagne, warm nuts, red wine with dinner, Collateral (with Tom Cruise and Jamie
Foxx) and a five hour nap and we awoke in Zurich.

As we frequently do, we had left ourselves
several options for where wed stay on this 3-nights-on-the-ground trip.We knew we wanted to stay on Lake Konstanz, in Southern Germany.(BJ and I, with several friends, had biked around
the lake last year.)When we were there in April, there were ferry boats
running to numerous locations around the lake, so we hoped, for this trip, to spend 1
night in Lindau, 1 night in Meersburg and the last night in Konstanz (for an easy
return to the airport).At the ZRH airport,
after verifying that there was train service back from Konstanz for Mondays 9:55AM
return flight to Atlanta, we purchased train tickets and boarded the train for a
one-transfer ride to Konstanz.Since we were
in a foreign country, we decided it was time for a beer (logic is sometimes not needed
after an all night flight).BJ and Karla
headed off towards the back of the train to find the café car.Twenty minutes later, as I was beginning to worry
that they wouldnt be back for the change of trains at Weinfellen, the wanderers
suddenly appeared, with beers, coming from the FRONT of the train!Turns out, as soon as they left our car, they had
to go upstairs to walk the length of the train to the café car.They neglected to count how many cars they passed
through on their way, so on the way back, they had trouble determining at what point to go
back downstairs to our car. Reunited, we all
enjoyed our first beer of the trip.We arrived
at a slightly drizzly, cool Konstanz around 11am and headed for the Tourist Information,
to see about our 3 city plan, and then to an ATM (and then to the Restaurant Buergerstuben
for another beer).

We learned that the ferries to Lindau and
between Lindau and Meersburg are seasonal, and we are past the season.The only ferry running was one we knew (from the internet)
would be running; Konstanz to Meersburg.So we
jumped on the Number 1 bus to the autoferre (auto ferry) stop, and jumped on the boat to
Meersburg.Heading up to the café, we ordered
5 beers and sat down to enjoy them.Little did
we realize that it would be only a 12 or 13 minute (4.2 km) ride to Meersburg.We had barely taken our first sip when we realized
we were docking in Meersburg.Once in
Meersburg, an ancient walled city, we headed up the steep hill to the local TI.Finding the TI closed for the next hour or so, we
walked a little further to the Café Schickeria for lunch.At this point, we got a text message from Kitsies husband Mike, who
was surfin the net at home and suggested the Hotel Zum Bären a place
hed read about on the internet while Googling Meersburg.

Zum Bären (The Bear) was in a perfect
location, on the main Markt Platz (Market Place) and had no rooms.Well, they had a room for the first night, but not
the second.Shades of our recent trip to Prague!Luckily, right across the street from the Zum
Bären was the Komfort Hotel Weinstube der Lowe zu Meersburg (basically, The Lion), which
had very nice rooms (at a better price than The Bear).We checked in to our triple and double room, dropped our bags and headed out
to see Meersburg. (You can see Meersburg live on this webcam www.meersburg-webcam.de )

Meersburg is the home of the oldest
intact castle in Europe as well as a fairly modern
castle.

At the top of the hill, beside the new castle, was a beautiful view that, in good weather,
would have let us see to the Western end of the lake. As it was, we had to be content
looking across the Lake at Konstanz.

From the top of the hill, we saw our next
stop; the waterfront.So we headed downhill,
stopping for, you guessed it, a beer at the Hotel Restaurant Strandcafe. Unlike our last time in Meersburg, this visit
was much less crowded.

Afterwards, we walked the lower part of the
town, then headed back up the hill to the Staatweingut
Meersburg, a local winery, for a couple of bottles of wine for after
dinner.Still feeling a little jet
lagged, we ate an early dinner at the Ratskeller der stadt Meersburg, followed by FREE
champagne (followed by paid for wine) at a local weinstube.At the weinstube, we engaged in a political discussion with the waitress about our
new president, but we werent sure exactly what her position was since our German and
her English were comparable.By now, we were
all ready for bed, so it was back to The Lion and to bed.

Saturday morning, we met for breakfast
(included) in The Lions Gaststube.After
the usual (very good and complete) continental breakfast, we headed out for a walk along a
marked wanderweg (walking path).

With the sun occasionally peeking between the
clouds, the wanderweg took us through vineyards, along a ridge overlooking the lake, and
down into the woods northwest of town.

Here we picked up a stream and followed it to
the rocky shoreline of the lake.

Following the waterfront back into town, we
stopped at Café zur Munz for, uh, refreshment.

Sue realized that she had lost her handschuhe
(mittens) and thought she might have left them at the Hotel Restaurant Strandcafe when
were were there the day before, so we stopped in to ask about the hanschuhe (and to have a
bier).By now, it was approaching lunch
time, so we continued down the waterfront street to the GutsShanke where the girls ordered
lunch while I went back to the Ratskeller der stadt Meersburg where we had dined the night
before to look for the lost handschuhe.As
soon as the waiter saw me, he handed me the mittens!

At the GutsShanke we enjoyed gulaschesuppe
(goulash soup) and bratkartoffeln (basically pan fried potato slices cooked with onions
and chopped bacon).Following lunch, we
wandered through town, doing a little window shopping.One necessary item was located; the kinder
ueberraschung (children surprise).(Those
of you who follow our writeups know what this is BJs GOT to find her
KinderEggs when we are in Europe).With
chocolate in hand, Tony headed back to The Lion for some quiet time (and to look for
tomorrows Diet Coke) while the ladies took an eastbound walk on another wanderweg.

Around dark, we hooked up on the main
off-water shopping street (at a bar whose name escapes us, but was notable for its, uh,
unpleasant smell).After a round of adult
beverages at the smelly bar (nicknamed the Tote Ratte), we headed to dinner at the
Restaurant Alemannen Torkel.

After dinner, we headed back to that weinstube
with the free champagne, only to find it closed (on a Saturday night!!).Saddened by the loss of free champagne, the group
wandered back toward the hotel.We stopped
into the Bear to see if we could get a glass of wine, but the proprietress directed us to
a special place for wine, the Zwiefalter Klosterbrau.We enjoyed the chocolate from our Kinder Eggs with
our wine while we assembled the toys.

Back at The Lion, we shared a taste of the
wine we had picked up the day before and then retired for the evening.

Sunday we all slept in, since today wed
head back to Konstanz.After
a late breakfast, we checked out of The Lion and headed for the old castle.Tony agreed to watch the luggage (at
the Alemannen Torkel) while the ladies took a tour.

The girls called me on the walkie-talkie and I
walked outside to take their picture at the castle.

The group re-united at the Torkel and headed
downhill for a late lunch at the Winzerstuben; a quaint looking restaurant/café/bar that
we had passed many times during our walks.

Here we enjoyed the usual pomme frites (french
fries) along with a meat, pickle and cheese platter and the most incredible cream of
tomato soup with garlic and croutons.

At the bottom of the hill, we jumped on the
every-15-minute ferry back to Konstanz.

We connected with Bus #1 again, for the ride
back to the center of town.Along the way, we
spotted some interesting statuary and decided wed make our way back there once we
found our hotel for tonight.We elected to
stay at the Hotel Centro, a place BJ and I had stayed last year, since it's right across
the street from the 6:03am train wed be taking back to Zurich airport tomorrow
morning.Inquiring at the Centro, we mentioned
our previous stay, which resulted in more free champagne!Apparently returning visitors get a treat.Tonight wed be staying in 3 rooms; two
doubles and a triple so we all agreed on knocking on each others doors tomorrow at
5am.We dropped our bags and headed back out,
as the afternoon was drawing to a close.We
found the statues that we had seen from the bus and took plenty of photos of our
kinda folks.

Now fully dark, we headed for the headwaters
of the RhineRiver, as it comes out of the Lake.Spotting
more lights on the other side of the river, we crossed at a bridge and stopped in at the
Havana Cocktailbar Restaurant for a beer.Knowing
wed be getting up around 5am tomorrow, we decided that it was time for
dinner.We quickly settled on a nearby place;
the Café Rheinterrasse, on the river.The
restaurant was small and had a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, along with a (not
currently occupied) DJs set up in the corner.Looks
notwithstanding, we had a GREAT dinner.The
food was mostly non-German-traditional (although I did have my usual weiner schnitzel);
including a tasty Thai noodle dish, a chicken in a cream sauce and crème brulee.

After dinner, we headed back to the Konstanzer
Burgerstuben for a night cap and then to the Centro and off to bed.

Monday morning, we pounded on each
others doors, left the hotel as planned at 5:45 and made our 6:03 train to the
airport. Poor Sue discovered she had once again lost her hanschuhe with no opportunity to
go back and retrieve it this time.

When reviewing the photographs from the trip,
Sue discovered several clues that show where the hanschuhe was last seen. Click here to see the clues.

We checked in for the 9:55am flight back home, passed through customs and
spent a little time (and money) at duty free.

Then we boarded in our Business Class seats,
and with a slightly ahead of schedule 9:50 departure, we once again settled in for
champagne, warm nuts, lunch and several movies on our nine and a half hour return flight.Kitsie STILL hasnt seen Venice in more than
20 years, so we know we have another trip coming up soon.